Young Chefs'
Dinner
A review by Franz Scheurer
Young Chefs' dinners started
when legendary chef Janni
Kyritsis decided that he was not going to cook on MG Garage's first birthday and he
invited the young guns of his industry friends to come in and cook.
His idea was not only brilliant it really promoted the upcoming
talents in the industry and gave the public a chance to sample the
culinary future. Because it was such a great event, Janni asked SMH
Good Food Month to make the Young Chefs' Dinner a part of their
program and he would stay as the director, overseer and organiser,
and it's great to see that places for this annual extravaganza
still sell out in a matter of minutes.
This year was the
13th anniversary for the Young Chefs and I am pretty
sure I have been to all of them. It's amazing to see just how many
of the young chefs go on and make a name for themselves, some
rather earlier than expected. The dinners are always held at the
previous year's Good Food Guide's Best New Restaurant and this
years dinner was held at Rockpool Bar & Grill. Industry legend
Janni Kyritsis stays on, year after year, to mentor the young chefs
and he does an incredible job. The dinner is a collaboration
between five of Sydney's most promising young chefs, including the
winner of the year's Josephine Pignolet Best Young Chef award.
This year the chefs were:
Graeme
Hunt - Rockpool Bar & Grill
Jason
Saxby - Quay Restaurant (Josephine Pignolet Award winner)
Soren
Lascelles - Assiette
Robert
Cockerill - Quay Restaurant, and
Katie
Sharp - Billy Kwong
The venue, Rockpool Bar & Grill is
certainly grand and impressive and the young chefs did it proud
with their offerings. It's a difficult venue, though, when it comes
to holding speeches and basically impossible for the chefs to gauge
the diners reactions as the room is just too big and diners are too
spread out.
The evening started with Graeme Hunt's two Canap�s,
lovely, strong liver pat� and a goat's cheese and beetroot morsel.
The 2007 Stonier's Sparkling from Mornington worked well.
Jason Saxby presented 'Eel in Spring
Garden' which tasted every bit as good as it looked. You
could see Peter Gilmore's influence in the attention to detail and
the 2009 Grenache Blanc Mon-Redon from C�tes-du-Rh�ne was an
inspired match.
Soren Lascelles' 'Squid Ink
Cannelloni of Scallop and Prawn, Zucchini Pur�e and Bisque
Sauce' was a revelation. Remember his name, he will be one
of the great chefs of the future! His dish was easily the dish of
the night and it convinced not just with its superb flavours but
also with subtle, layered textures. Utter delight!
To quote Soren: "This is a
reasonably simple dish but it also involves lots of technique. It
is a refined and it's important to be sensible with flavours. The
flavours have to work together in harmony, nothing should overpower
and all should work together to form one new flavour".
He certainly succeeded!
A 2008 Viognier from Madden's Rise in the Yarra Valley was a
good match, although it did not set the world on fire.
Robert Cockerill's 'Rabbit with
Prunes, White Carrot, Pumpernickel and Malt Rubble' showed
us all just how succulent rabbit can be. This was a superb dish and
I have never seen a white carrot before; purple, red, yellow yes,
but not white (it tasted more like a very young parsnip than a
carrot). This dish was matched with a 2008 Zinfandel, McHenry
Honen's 'Rocky Road' from Margaret River and the combination
worked.
Graeme Hunt was next with 'Beef Short Ribs
Wood Fire Roasted Cumin and Chilli, Braised Sichuan Eggplant,
Cucumber Shiitake Pickle'. This was such a Rockpool Group
dish; the wonderful charred flavours of the wood fire, perfectly
seared and rested meat, paired with superb eggplants, just coarsely
mashed, and the bit of the pickle (sharp, intense and moreish);
sensational! The wine choice of 2009 Shiraz / Cabernet (Rockpool
branded house wine made by Grosset) Clare Valley was an inspired
choice.
Soren Lascelles' 'Cheese
Selection' again confirmed the talent and finely honed craft
this young chef exhibits. It consisted of a rich, smooth and creamy
Brilliat Savarin mousse served with honeyed walnuts, pear puree
with raisin, oat crumble and a fruit toast crouton. The wait staff
poured a 2006 Pressing Matters RS139 Riesling from Coal River,
Tasmania and I don't think it was meant for the cheese course, but
rather for the pineapple dessert to follow. It was overly acidic
and did not work well with the cheese.
Katie Sharp had to wait patiently
to the end to finally show off her 'Pineapple, White
Chocolate & Anise' dessert. Really intense flavours with
textures, reminiscent of the style of Alex Stupak, showed a dessert
chef in the making. The Riesling worked a lot better with this,
too.
The final course, meant to go
with either coffee or tea, was Graeme Hunt's 'Pedro Xim�nez
1927 Alvear Sherry Br�l�e' and I thought this was probably
the only dish that was not a success; it was overly sweet and
one-dimensional.
The food at this Young Chefs' Dinner was probably
the best so far and it's a credit to the immense dedication of the
young chefs and their mentor, Janni Kyritsis. Talking to Janni
Kyritsis this morning he agreed with me that the food was probably
the best in the event's 13 year history.
The evening was relaxed with
excellent service from the floor staff and the only thing that
could be improved would probably be the timing of the dishes. I
understand the extra pressure of cooking in a kitchen that is not
your own and the fact that you are cooking for a critical and
discerning audience.
All I have left to say is:
BRAVO!
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